Into the Twilight
by Jonathan Priest
Summary: From .Hack Liminality, these are the events that led up to Sieg's subsequent coma that prompted Mai to get involved in the events of The World. This is Sieg's story. Please R


Disclaimer: I don't own any rights or privileges to the Dot Hack (.Hack) series, characters, anime or manga. My work is strictly fiction, and though based on the game, I hold no legal authority on said product.  
  
Timeline: .HackInfection. Though not an important character by any stretch, Sieg's subsequent coma was the motivation for Mai to get involved in the conspiracy surrounding CC Corp and The World. This is his story. Based on the anime shorts .HackLiminality.  
  
# # #  
  
Into the Twilight  
  
Though the sun had long since set, Tamonari Kasumi still sat at his terminal, plotting various key words into the Chaos Gate of Delta Server and sending his virtual self bouncing in and out of various fields until he could find the perfect one. He ignored the fact that, had he bothered to raise his visor and look across the room, his digital clock would read 10:30. He ignored the fact, also that he really should get some rest for school tomorrow or for that matter that his mother had told him to shut the game off a half hour ago. This was more important.  
  
The real world was boring. Life was subjective to rules and constraints, hindering dreamers from reaching their potential. Tamonari laughed at the thought. He was not a dreamer, he had never thought of himself as one, merely a dreamer in training. But The World was something wholly different. Here, within The World, he was Sieg, a strong and easily recognized Blademaster by many of the frequent players of the online game. He was even on friendly terms with Balmung of the Azure Sky and Orca of the Azure Sea. The Descendants of Fianna were the strongest party within The World; there was no denying that.  
  
Tamonari had therefore taken it upon himself to challenge that role. He was not as strong as the powerful Descendants of Fianna, but he was close. He held one record, at least in the beginning, that even Orca and Balmung had not completed before him. The Zeit Statue, testing a player's speed through a dungeon. Seig had won first place before any other player, until Orca and Balmung bounced his name to third on the list. It was that event that had, in his mind, started their rivalry. He would defeat them, certainly not in battle, PK was illegal now within The World, and he never wanted to play the game for that reason, but he would win by becoming more famous than them.  
  
But he had pushed aside the thoughts of his often one-sided rivalry with the Descendants of Fianna and continued to concentrate on the task at hand. He was in search of the perfect field, not an easy task since Delta Server was for beginners and his character was at level 45, but this wasn't for him. His school had just acquired new computers for their gaming guild and he wanted to show The World to his friend Mai. It could be said they were dating, certainly that was the whispered rumors around school, and he wanted the rumors to be true, but like any teenage boy finding himself involved with a girl he really liked, there was always doubt. That's why he wanted to introduce her to The World, so they could spend time together without actually spending time together, a way for him to test the water before jumping in.  
  
"Tamonari, I told you almost an hour ago to turn off that game and go to bed." His mother said, her head leaning into his room to better voice her declaration. Tamonari turned to look at her, the large VR visor over his eyes. He imagined he must look strange to her, but suppressed any smile that may have crept to his face when considering the thought. The tone of her voice reminded him this wasn't the time to be funny.  
  
"Sorry mom, I just wanted to finish up." He smiled sheepishly at her, making sure he saved his game before logging out.  
  
"I understand you enjoy playing that foolish game, but be that as it may, we had an agreement. Your grades last period dropped off and you were not to play the game after 10 o'clock on a school night." She said, taking a few long strides into his room and struggling with his computer until finding the eject button, taking the disk from the tray. "You can have this back in two weeks, provided your grades improve."  
  
"But..."  
  
"To bed!" His mother said, ending the conversation.  
  
He sat in room for a moment, wondering how he could sneak the game back from his mother without her knowing. It didn't really matter that much. He had the gaming guild, and he guessed he could just talk Mai into meeting him there. It might actually work out better since he could sit right beside her and instruct her. A smile creased his face. Yes, this could actually out work well.  
  
His mother's mood didn't improve any the next morning. He struggled getting out of bed, struggled to get dressed, struggled to eat breakfast, all the while wanting to doze off. He was sure he'd wake up around 2:30 in the afternoon. Not that it concerned him; he didn't really have any tests to worry about and Sensei Tokunakwa's history lesson was always a great class to catch up on lost sleep. As long as he could stay awake long enough to talk to Mai, that's all he needed.  
  
He got his chance almost immediately as he arrived to school. He was actually grateful for it, because his mother had not stopped lecturing him since they left the house. In his defense, he stopped listening shortly after they pulled out of the driveway. It was all the usual anyway "Throwing away his potential, wasting his life, leaving the house looking like a slob." He knew her speech pretty much by heart anyway, and didn't feel very inclined to listen to it again.  
  
It was during her speeches that he thought she was the dreamer. She had faith in him, that was never the question, but more times than he'd care to reflect, he wished he had some of her faith as well. He never saw the potential she saw in him, maybe it was just the job of every mother. But it was that same reason that made The World so appealing to him. He never had to live up to anyone's expectations. He could be himself and people accepted him for it. He wished his mother would see that too.  
  
But now at school, he could clear his mind of his mother's sermon and get to what was really important, finding Mai. It was strange if he really thought about it, how very similar Mai was to his mother. Both quiet, both soft-spoken (his mother only raised her voice when she was passionately upset with him), yet they had a sort of inner strength that kept others around them from falling apart. Mai also had faith in his potential, but never berated him about it.  
  
"Hey, Mai!" Tamonari called out, catching up to his friend before she entered the school. "Hey, wait up."  
  
Mai stopped just short of the entrance, her school bag hanging from her left shoulder, her violin case clutched tightly in her right hand. Turning to face Tamonari, he could see the smile light up in her clear gray eyes. It was a look that made his heart beat so fast in his chest he imagined everyone around him could hear it.  
  
"Yes, what is it?" She asked.  
  
Again he was amazed. As soft spoken as she was, any words that slipped past her lips seemed to drown out all other sounds around them, so that he could only hear what she was saying. At the same time, it caused a temporary seizure of his own voice and as he opened his mouth, he struggled to remember how to talk. "Uh...oh..." He said stupidly, and she smiled at him again. She certainly wasn't helping. "I...I was wondering, after school, you have violin lessons an hour after school right? If...uh...well, if you didn't have any other plans, do you want go to the Gaming Guild? I wanted to show you something. But I promise I won't make you late for your lesson."  
  
She tilted her head considering his proposal, and during that single moment she considered the idea, Tamonari was sure eternity had come and gone. "Sure." She answered, a slight smile pulling at the corner of her lips. He knew she wasn't sure whether to trust him yet or not, but at the same time she trusted him enough to go into a dark room with just him. It was that trust he swore he'd never betray.  
  
That of course was six hours ago. The rest of the day was an experiment of time travel. Tamonari had never been through a slower day in his life. This was all the result of the nervous knot that seemed to linger in the pit of his stomach. He was hungry but couldn't manage to eat any lunch on account that the nervousness didn't leave any room. He was greatly relieved when, at the end of the day, his friend Masaya had nudged him rather painfully in the ribs to wake him up at the end of their last class.  
  
Having finished gathering his schoolbooks and supplies from his locker, he stood outside the school entrance, waiting for Mai to show up. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not, but she seemed to be taking longer than he thought she would. Maybe she forgot about meeting him, maybe she just said she would so he wouldn't pester her any longer. Maybe...  
  
"Hi." Mai said from behind Tamonari, causing him to jump in surprise. She giggled again, in that laugh that sounded suspiciously like music. "Sorry. I was waiting for you at the Gaming Guild trailer but you weren't there so I thought I'd look for you here."  
  
"Uh...oh. I'm an idiot!" Tamonari said. "I completely forgot to tell you where to meet."  
  
"It's alright." Mai smiled. "But the trailer is locked. Unless you have the key I don't think we can get in."  
  
"Oh, don't worry about that. I know the back way in. I'll show you." Tamonari said, directing Mai to follow him. He thought of possibly offering his hand to her, but thought maybe that would be pushing it. It only took a few minutes to reach the Gaming Guild. It was a small, overused, under-maintained trailer on the outskirts of the school grounds. But despite its weathered appearance, it was the most recognizable and favorite place of all the students in school.  
  
"So, how do we get in?" Mai asked, looking at the heavy door that barred their way. She considered for a moment that if any of her friends would see her down here, alone with Tamonari, more rumors about the two of them were sure to spring up. Neither had such a reputation; surely they were seen as model students, but that didn't stop the talk. A slight smile pulled at her lips at the thought. Surely she didn't want such a reputation, but she couldn't deny getting upset when her friends would tell her she was too safe, that she didn't do anything dangerous that might push the envelope. Well, breaking into the Gaming Guild was something that certainly would change that image as well. She was inwardly surprised at her own daring when with Tamonari, but she liked this new sense of adventure.  
  
"Oh, right." Tamonari said, looking around the base of Gaming Guild. "It's this way." Leading Mai behind the trailer, she counted her steps in boredom until he stopped. Leaning down to examine the paneling of the trailer, he used to foot to push open one sheet of aluminum that slid open rather easily. Checking to make sure no one was around, Tamonari slid into the trailer headfirst. It took Mai a little longer to maneuver herself in.  
  
"Well, this is the Gaming Guild." He said, his arms spread wide in an amusing show of grandeur. She took in the surroundings, metal shelves filled with boxes of board games, card games and computer accessories; handles, VR helmets and the like, seemed to clutter the tightly squeezed room. "Man, what a mess." Tamonari complained, using his left foot to nudge a box under the one of the many unstable shelves. "Anyway, what I wanted to show you was this way."  
  
He led the way around the maze of boxes, shelves and litter until they arrived at numerous computer consoles. "Here, I wanted to show you The World, it's a really great online game." He said, pulling out one of the computer chairs for her to sit down at the terminal.  
  
"Yeah, I spent all week planning this." He said, sitting himself in the terminal next to her. "I wanted to show you this, sort of let you see what all the hype is about. I even made you your own character. Uh...just to get you started." He added hastily, incase he may have gone too far.  
  
Mai didn't say much, just stared from the screen to Tamonari, waiting for some instruction. She wasn't a big game fan, but he obviously was, and this might very well help them move past the awkward stages of their relationship. Taking one of the VR helmets, Tamonari slid it over her eyes, daring to allow his hand to brush her cheek, and glad she could no longer see him as the blush caused his face to glow scarlet.  
  
"Okay," He said, putting his own helmet on. "We're both logged in. I named your character Mai, and you're a Wavemaster...er, a magician. Hope you don't mind. Wavemasters can be very powerful characters if they're used properly."  
  
"What is your character?" Mai asked, turning her head before she realized she couldn't see him.  
  
"My character's a Blademaster named Seig."  
  
"From the German opera?"  
  
"Yep." Tamonari continued. "Ready? Here we go." It was fun, it always was logging into The World, feeling the sudden rush of adrenaline pour through his body as his consciousness was being taken into the virtual world. It always reminded him of a roller coaster.  
  
Feet slamming into the hard surface of the Root Town, Mac Anu, Sieg turned quickly to steady Mai who came out of the log in rather shakily. "Sorry, I should have warned you about that." Sieg said, looking at Mai. He had made her character similar to her appearance in the real world, probably because he wanted to see her as much as possible.  
  
"It's okay, but...how come your voice, and your appearance are so different?"  
  
"In The World, I can be whatever I want, anyone can. That's why it's so fun." He said, looking around the Delta Server Root Town. "Do you want me to show you around town?"  
  
"Well, I do have violin lessons in about half an hour so I don't have much time."  
  
"Oh, right. I'm sorry, I forgot. Let's just go to the field then. The Chaos Gate is how you log into different fields. Come on, I'll show you." Sieg said turning to the Chaos Gate and entered the Key Words he found last night. Chosen Hopeless Nothingness. He picked the level 19 dungeon for two reasons. First, it would be a great place to build up a new character like Mai. He knew she wouldn't be in danger; he had walked through the dungeon himself with no problems at all. That also carried into the second reason, because it was such an easy dungeon for him, it would give him the chance to show off for her.  
  
"Wow." The words barely escaped her lips as she stood in the middle of the virtual field. The gentle wind across the plane made her real self believe she had truly felt it. It was both amazing and alarming. Turning to look at Sieg, a thought occurred to her. "Tamonari, I'm curious about your voice, and your appearance. You don't look anything like the real you."  
  
"Oh this?" His virtual character smiled. "The reason I like The World so much is it gives me a chance to be someone I normally couldn't be. I mean, I'm Tamonari all the time, but here I'm Sieg." He added, deepening his voice as he said his online character's name.  
  
Laughing slightly at the sound of his voice and the drama he put into it, Mai turned towards him. "But what's wrong with just being Tamonari? I like you just as you are. You shouldn't need to pretend."  
  
Shuffling his feet awkwardly, he tried to come up with a reasonable answer for her, unsure what to say. He wasn't sure how to tell her that, to him, Tamonari was boring. Fortunately, Mai rapidly changed the subject before he could think of a good response.  
  
"Did you hear that?"  
  
Sieg looked around. There weren't any monsters in the vicinity and the only noise he heard was the virtual wind and the background music, both of which had been constant since they arrived. But something caused her to pause. He thought it might have been her nerves, a new character being jumpy at any little sound, but that wasn't it. She wasn't the type to get nervous in a game.  
  
"I didn't hear anything." Sieg said, titling his head to listen better.  
  
"It sounded like...a note. A musical chord."  
  
"Maybe it was the background music."  
  
"No, it wasn't that, it was separate. It was...it was A in C minor; we use it to tune instruments. I think it came from this way." She said, pointing her curved staff in the direction the tone originated from. "I want to see."  
  
Shrugging his shoulders slightly, he hurried after her, trying to think what that noise she had described could be. Might be another player, but Sora was the only player he knew who had the tendency to make weird noises, and he wasn't likely to attack them. Mai was too low level to be any interest to him, and Sieg wasn't a character he would normally mess with. Besides, no one's seen Sora in almost four months.  
  
"It came from this way." Mai said, picking up speed, Sieg running to keep up. If she met a monster, she'd be dead in one hit, and that wouldn't be a great way of introducing her to the game.  
  
"There, it's over there." Mai said pointing to the rocks that seemed to shelter the source of the mysterious note. Sieg quickly stood in front of her, unsure what it may be. Regardless, he would protect her. But there seemed to be nothing needing to protect her from.  
  
From behind the rocks, a small, ghostly figure floated into view. She stared at the two for a moment and smiled.  
  
"Is that a...what is that?" Mai asked, craning her neck forward to get a better view.  
  
"I'm not sure. Unless it's an edited character, I've never seen anything like that. I mean, I've heard rumors of the ghostly figure but I just thought..." Sieg stopped, his eyes opening wide and drawing his sword he quickly swept the contents of the field with his virtual eyes. It was his turn now to hear what Mai had missed, the swirling sounds of wind that indicated the approach of a monster. But as he scanned the field, he could not find any indication of an approaching enemy, until he looked up.  
  
It was a monster he'd never seen before. Its white, stone-like body parts seemed to be free-floating and did not look at all connected to one another, yet it was definitely something worth his attention. With just one look, he could tell it was powerful. He could also tell that it didn't belong on this server. If his partner Edajima had been with him, he would have thought about fighting it, but he had Mai and he didn't like the idea of trying to fight that thing with her. She was too new and too inexperienced to be any help against something like that.  
  
But the strange monster didn't approach them; it turned its attention to the floating girl behind the rocks. Whether she tried to distract it or just get away was of no importance, as she floated through the air right past Sieg and Mai and into the field. And as the crystalline creature floated past them, Sieg did something that was both incredibly stupid and incredibly brave; he lashed out with his sword, giving the ghost-girl enough time to escape.  
  
The white monster however did not seem at all pleased by Sieg's interference and now turned its wrath towards them. "Something's not right." Sieg said, lashing his sword at the creature and realizing it was having no effect. "Why doesn't this thing have a hit bar counter? A monster like this shouldn't be on this server anyway! What the Hell is happening?" Sieg said, turning to the girl at his side. "Mai, this isn't right, I don't know what's going on. This could be a system glitch. Get out of here. Hurry and log out."  
  
"What? But...I don't know how to log out."  
  
Sieg cursed himself for his lack of foresight. Neither of them could exit the dungeon while in battle and he hadn't instructed her how to gate out either. He thought for a panicked moment to tell her to run. Once the Battle Mode Off symbol appeared in her visual settings she could gate out from the command menu, but if she stumbled across a wandering monster or portal, she'd be in trouble without him there to help her. Rebooting the terminals weren't an option either since these were the school computers and not his own. He was quickly running out of ideas.  
  
But all possible logic was driven from his mind as the white monster used its staff to batter his character aside like a giant swatting a gnat. He wasn't the strongest character in The World, but certainly he shouldn't have been tossed around like this. Something was definitely not right, but before he could consider how to defeat this creature, Mai's scream intruded upon his train of thought and the sight he beheld turned his blood to ice.  
  
Staring up at the girl he brought to The World in some vain attempt to impress her, he saw that the white monster had somehow levitated her into the air, the red wand shimmering ominously at her back. No monster he had ever come across had that power. This was wrong, terribly wrong. Then a sudden burst of prismatic light encircled its wrist as the creature raised its right arm, preparing to strike Mai with whatever attack it had in its arsenal. Sieg had never seen the initiation of an attack like that before, but he knew he couldn't let it hit Mai.  
  
Emotion overruled logic, fear-overriding desperation as he pushed his virtual legs in a full-out sprint to where the creature held Mai captive. The white creature was pushed from his mind, all that mattered for Sieg was to get his timing right. And he did. Throwing his body at Mai the instant the monster unleashed its attack; he hurled his character into the path of the streaming wave of light, blocking the full force of its attack with his character. He was sure Sieg would sustain the attack, he was a high level character after all, but on that regard, he was wrong.  
  
The tendrils of phosphorescent light tore its way into his character data, the programming core of his virtual self, sending explosions of light and sound in the form of temporal feedback. Like a bolt of lightning seeking a grounding element, the temporal feedback scorched through the VR helmet, breaking through the boundaries of the virtual world, and finding its grounding source in the body of Tamonari. For one horrifying moment that stretched across eternity, player and character were linked, the rapid deterioration of Sieg finding its way into Tamonari's consciousness. It was pain beyond reckoning, yet deep within the corner of his mind a small voice reminded him how absurd this was, he wasn't supposed to feel pain from a game. But that logic could not halt the pain-soaked scream that ripped its way from his lips, joined by the scream that came from Mai. The stream of energy that he had blocked had torn through his character and now affected Mai. He couldn't protect her after all.  
  
Mai...  
  
There was so much he would have like to have told her. New thoughts that just now came to mind that he hadn't considered before. But he couldn't get the words past his scream, and with the odd sound of shattering glass echoing in his ear through the VR visor, he was, in one final instant, consumed by the darkness.  
  
The End 


End file.
